INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: MEDICINAL PLANTS, TRADITIONAL MEDICINES & LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN AFRICA

 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

MEDICINAL PLANTS, TRADITIONAL MEDICINES & LOCAL

COMMUNITIES IN AFRICA: CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES OF  THE NEW  MILLENNIUM

 

 

A Parallel Session to the Conference of Parties (COP-5) to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD)

 

VENUE: International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF)

United Nations Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya

16 - 19 MAY 2000

 

CONVENORS:

 

-Environment Liaison Centre International (ELCI), Nairobi, Kenya

 

-Global Initiative For Traditional Systems (GIFTS) of Health,  University of Oxford

 

 

SPEECH OF HON. FRANCIS NYEZE, MINISTER OF

 ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

 

 

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen.

 

I am happy to be here today to open this important conference on Medicinal Plants, Traditional Medicines and  Local Communities in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for the new Millennium. I take this opportunity to welcome you all to Kenya on behalf of the Government of Kenya.

 

This Conference is  a  parallel session to the Conference of Parties (COP-5) to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD)  which began on Monday.

 

I note that the  conference is being supported by various international organizations and Donors which include the Canadian International Development Research Centre ( IDRC), UNAIDS, Commonwealth,  European Union , United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP), and other Agencies. On behalf of the Government of Kenya, I thank all these agencies for their financial support of the conference.

 

 

I understand that the conference will address issues pertaining to the Sustainable use of medicinal plants and the conservation of these plants. This is an issue of great importance not only to Kenya but to all nations around the world.  Every year all sectors of the Kenyan Nation participate in tree planting exercises and these events are led by His Excellency the President of Kenya himself.  I hope that your deliberations will tackle matters concerning the rapid depletion of flora and fauna in many parts of the developing world due to practices  that are detrimental to the continued survival of our forests. The international trade in some of the plants such as Prunus africana and the aloes, and in animals such as the horns of the rhino and elephant tasks, must be viewed seriously.

 

I have observed that this conference will also discuss the role of traditional medicine in our health care systems.  As you will all agree, a very significant proportion of the people in the world today has turned to the use of traditional remedies prepared from plant or animal materials.

 

Another issue which I have noted that you will be discussing is the protection of the intellectual property rights of traditional healers and others who have mastered the art of applying our traditional sciences to provide alternative healing services where the modern conventional remedies have failed. The excessive exploitation of the indigenous knowledge of our peoples must be carefully protected.

 

Over the years, the importance of specific plant species for primary health care has received some recognition from official authorities and policy institutions.  Medicinal plants deserve special attention because they are of great value in averting or treating common illnesses. Because of the high cost of imported drugs, many African health ministries are now encouraging the use of local medicinal plants in order to give underprivileged populations alternative to primary health care, and have established departments of traditional pharmacopoeia  to implement this policy.

 

     This acknowledgement has been extremely vital in efforts to conserve medicinal bio-diversity.  But the preservation of such  plants has depended mainly on how indigenous and local communities have treated ecosystems in general.  In fact, traditional healers have not only directed much of their  attention to plants of direct medicinal relevance, but also to the conservation of adjoining areas where non-medicinal species grow.

 

            While international efforts have concentrated on issues of bio-conservation in developing countries, no formula has been devised to compensate local communities for the genetic resources which they helped to conserve and which have had significant pharmaceutical spin-off for industrialized countries. 

 

            In Africa, more than 80% of the continent's population relies on plant and animal-based medicines to meet their health care requirements.  As Africa's population grows, demand for traditional medicines will increase, and pressure on natural resources will become greater than ever.

 

We expect that your deliberations will address the following  priorities pertaining to the issues highlighted above:

 

1. Strategies and mechanisms  initiating and implementing an African decade devoted to development and promotion of medicinal plants ,traditional medicine and pharmacopoeia;

2.Outline of an African wide agenda and process for development of the sector;

3.The need for the Biodiversity Convention processes to reflect specifically, medicinal plants and traditional medicine and protection of customary Intellectual property rights;

4. Activities  and strategies for Research and Development  relating to addressing priority diseases using medicinal plants and traditional medicine.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the current pandemics of HIV/AIDS and Malaria have raised very important questions on the utilisation of our indigenous remedies. As you all know, the Commonwealth Heads of State met in Durban, South Africa in November 1999 to declare HIV/AIDS a national disaster in Africa.  Last month, the African heads of state also met in Abuja Nigeria to deliberate on strategies for eliminating the scourge of Malaria.

 

It has often been said that Nature has a unique way of providing the solution for treatment near where disease conditions occur.  If this supposition is true, then indeed we must find the treatment for HIV/AIDS and Malaria among our vast flora and fauna.

 

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that it is possible to use modern science and technology to seek among our vast biodiversity remedies for our current pandemics.  In this effort, I exhort you to leave no stone unturned, but rational and sustainable methods should be applied.

 

Once again, I welcome you all, and I invite especially those of you coming from outside Kenya to enjoy our hospitality.  Take the opportunity to visit the National Parks and enjoy the our wildlife and biodiversity in general.

 

And, with great pleasure, I declare this Regional Conference on Medicinal Plants, Traditional Medicines and Local Communities in Africa, officially open.